Eli Trace, Bounty hunter
by Shirae Natrice
Summary: DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN METROID, ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL BELONGS TO ITS RIGHTFUL OWNERS orignial characters however are mine the story of a young bounty hunter named Eli Trace. takes place in the metroid universe. any suggestions are welcome. ENJOY!
1. the hunter

Eli Trace sat in his pilot seat, browsing through the pages of his bounty postings bulletin. The usual rubbish were there; various space pirate deserters, common thugs, other penny bounties, most of them barely enough to keep his small gunship in working order. He kept going, he laughed as he saw himself among some of the mid-range bounties, "finally making a name for myself." He got to the top tier bounties, mostly Class-S bounty hunters; he had seen Weevil the week before, but knew that he didn't stand a chance against an opponent like that. Ending the list was Samus Aran, as always the top paying bounty ended the list.

Leaning back against his chair and sighing, Eli wondered what he would do if he ever ran into Samus. He knew that he would never try to fight her, not because she would kill him in a matter of seconds, but because she was his idol. Stories of her exploits always seemed blown out of proportion, but oddly believable due to the ungodly enormous price on her head. And besides that, rumors of her beauty added to his desire to meet her.

Eli put those thoughts aside, and went back to his work. Most of the decent bounties that he knew he could take were far enough off that by the time he got there, someone else would have got them. He limited the search to a one light-year journey, about two days at top speed. The computer beeped and showed about ten out of the few hundred on the list, most of them in the nearby Thran System.

As Eli was making his final course adjustments, his computer notified him of a distress beacon being activated nearby. Eli considered himself a man of honor, and usually put goodwill before cash; he changed course and set his computer to home onto the signal. "_ETA two hours and twelve minutes_" the computer said in its pseudo-female voice.

Eli hit a button on his chair and it rotated to face the opposite direction, and a large panel opened in the wall. Eli's combat suit was based on the Space Pirate design, obviously redesigned for a human. He pulled out a small tool box and went to work on an area where he had taken a hit on his last job.

"_ETA twenty minutes_". Eli looked at his holomap in disbelief, he felt like he had only been working for about forty-five minutes, but the computer was correct. He began to suit-up. As he got his final gauntlet on and hooked the power blade to it, the computer sang out, "_ETA ten minutes, beginning deceleration. Engaging stealth mode._"

The ship felt like it lurched slightly as the boosters disengaged. The ships sensors gave Eli a clear idea of what was going on; a large merchant ship was being raided by a ship that was the same model the local crime syndicate used. The syndicate is one that Eli had previously dealt with, in fact they were the ones that put a majority of the bounty on his head; they called themselves Marauder.

Once the ship was close enough, all power was cut; Eli couldn't afford to be detected, he needed surprise in order to succeed. He pulled on his helmet and made sure his suit read 'airtight', then opened a hatch at his feet. As his ship coasted past the Marauder Cruiser, he jumped out through the hatch and landed softly on the outer hull of the enemy vessel.

Eli set his visor to Search-Mode, and began his hunt for a maintenance hatch he could jimmy open. Once his helmet found one it directed him to it, and he set to work. After about a minute, the hatch popped open and he slipped in, closing it as quickly as he could. He moved swiftly and silently as he could. He found a computer terminal a few rooms down and was relieved to find that his entry had gone unnoticed. He quickly downloaded a map of the ship to his suit's temporary memory.

Eli followed the map to the cargo areas of the ship. As he thought, that's where most of enemy was, loading their recently acquired plunder and prisoners. Flicking his wrist, the young bounty hunter moved his blade into combat position.

Sneaking between boxes, Eli took out a few of the Marauders around the edges of the room. A proximity alert sounded in his helmet and he ducked behind a nearby box as a couple of brutish men hustled some beaten looking merchants into another room. Eli knew he needed to free those crew members, but the room they were being stored in would be heavily guarded to prevent riots and escapes.

Looking around, Eli spotted a rather large ventilation shaft on the ceiling. It would be the perfect way into the other room, but how could he get there unseen. A box on the other end of the cargo hold burst open, and several small animals began running around. Taking the opportunity, Eli quickly moved up to the ventilation shaft, and pulled off the grate.

Eli didn't put the grate back in quite right, and it clattered all the way to the ground. "Shit!" Eli swore to himself and began furiously crawling down the shaft. He kicked open the grate in the next room and plummeted to the ground, firing his wrist-mounted shock-cannon at the amazed guards; but not before one of the radioed "IT'S TRACE!" to his buddies. He began to rush the battered merchants into a smaller room so they would be out of the fight to come. As the last of the crew was getting away, the wall on the other side of the room burst apart and a Marauder wearing a rather powerful armor suit stood there.

Eli dove to the side and rolled as a wave of rockets came screaming across the room. Jumping to his feet, Eli began firing his shock-cannon at his foe. The shield on one of the Marauder's arm absorbed the shots. The armor began firing a pulse laser at the bounty hunter.

Diving behind a pylon, Eli caught his breath. He set his visor to Scan-Mode and stuck his head out just long enough to scan the armor suit that was wildly firing at him. Before he could read the results, he heard the high-pitched whistle of more rockets flying towards his cover. "SHIT!" he ran full-tilt away, getting hit by the tiny chunks of metal sent flying by the concussive blasts of the rockets.

A light clicked on in Eli's head, and he wall jumped higher up onto the pylon he had just been hiding behind. He swung his power-blade and cut it loose. Putting his entire body behind it, he kicked it, sending it falling towards his armored enemy. The enemy was too busy getting out of the way of the chunk of metal to see Eli running up to him. Only as the power-blade was about to pierce the cockpit windshield did the Marauder catch sight of the bounty hunter; but by then, it was far too late.

After about an hour, Eli had either killed or incapacitated the rest of the Marauders. And about ten minutes after that, the authorities began arriving. It took twelve hours before the local police sorted enough out that a reward could be discussed. Eli refused the offers from the crew of the merchant ship, saying that was "what any good-hearted warrior would have done". But he wouldn't refuse the authorities offering him the bounties on the Marauders he had captured, and the one in the armor suit had a decent bounty on his head, dead or alive.

All in all, it was a good day for the young bounty hunter. He hit a button on the underside of his arm, and a few minutes later, his ship arrived. Eli Trace returned to his ship and before anyone knew it, he was gone.


	2. the pirates

There were rumors of a small Space Pirate outpost on the nearby planet of Thran 6. Rumors also said it that there was a huge price on the contents of the research core memory. Eli didn't have any big beef with the Space Pirates, and he sure as hell didn't want them after him; but business had been slow, and he had almost run out of money since rescuing the merchant ship a little over a week ago.

The job was paying more money than he had made in the past year, but he knew that was because of the low likelihood of survival. Eli would need to make a stop to prepare for this one. Eli had his ship cruise over to the Thran System spacestation, and docked it. As he walked out of his ship, he counted the last of his money, sighing because he barely had enough for what he needed.

Eli strolled his way to the arms market area of the station. As he neared the counter he was looking for, he knew what he saw would spell trouble. The salesman was refusing service to a Space Pirate because the pirate didn't have the proper licensing to purchase a high-power weapon. The pirate grabbed the man by the collar and the man's young daughter began to pound uselessly on the brute's back screaming "Let Daddy go!"

The pirate knocked the girl down, so Eli decided it was his turn. Stepping behind the alien, he tapped it on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but I believe the girl asked you to release her father."

The Space Pirate dropped the man and flicked his blade to combat-position as he turned to face the bounty hunter. In a deep and throaty voice it hissed, "Boy, you just said your last."

Eli easily sidestepped the stabbing attack, and grabbed the arm. He twisted his body and sent a full power spear-hand strike to the beast's throat. The pirate fell to the ground, gasping for breath, and Eli stomp kicked its armored head, knocking it out.

Stepping over the body, Eli approached the counter and helped the man to his feet. "Sir, are you alright? If so, I need to make a few purchases to go after the rest of these bastards."

With the little extra he earned for taking down that pirate, Eli was able to buy the grapple-beam and a couple single use missile pods. He was also able to afford a good dinner, and he ate well because he knew it could likely be his last meal.

Eli set his ship to stealth mode as soon he left the spacestation, he would never even make it close if they knew he was coming. Because of the slow pace his ship traveled in stealth mode, he was able to attach the new additions to his suit, attaching the grapple beam to the right forearm, and one of the missile pods to each of the thighs.

His ship made the final approach and atmospheric entry from the opposite side of the planet from the Space Pirate base; he knew that gave him the least chance of being detected. Eli set the ship down a few miles from the base and got out. He walked over to the side of the ship and opened a small panel. "Let's see… I will set the optical camouflage to boulder." He turned a knob and stepped back; the ship became hazy, then a moment later, a gigantic rock roughly shaped like his ship sat in its place. "COMPUTER! Power down all systems except optical camouflage and defense turrets! Password will be 'payday', fire only on those _sentient _beings that stay in relative proximity for more than twenty minutes!"

"Acknowledged. Executing now." The computer's voice emotionlessly verbalized.

Eli turned and followed his HUD in the direction that his holomap said the base was. After about an hour, his sensors began to pick up power output from the base, so he began to be more cautious in his movements, knowing that he would soon run into the base's security measures. He set his visor to Search-mode, looking for the slightest signs of Space Pirates; mechanical or otherwise.

After a minute, his visor began to pick up some abnormal heat patterns. After scanning it, he discovered it was an auto defense turret. He switched back to his usual combat visor setting; ducking behind a tree, and readied his shock cannon. He waited until the turret's "eye" moved past where he was hiding before popping out and destroying it with a single blast. He quickly looked around and found the area was empty, he moved into the base.

Once inside, Eli found himself on a catwalk far above an assembly line. Examining the assembly line, he saw that this place wasn't a research facility, but an arms factory. Eli realized that he had stumbled into something FAR larger, and FAR more dangerous than he had expected. As if to emphasize his realization, a patrolling security drone aimlessly cruised past about 15 feet away. Eli froze, but the drone didn't look in his direction.

He moved further into the base, and found himself face to face with a door that said "Control room A-7: Auto-Defenses". The door opened and the young hunter found himself face to face with a battle equipped Pirate. Acting on instinct and nothing else, Eli drove his blade upward thru the monster's jaw. He moved the body into the door, and closed it behind him, locking it in the process.

Eli turned to the door as the lock bars snapped into place. He slammed the door with his fist, "shit!" A mechanical whirring behind him drew his attention away from the door. "Bzzzt! State identification codes!" an hominoid version of the security drone stood across the room, its four smaller red eyes glowing around its green central eye. After scanning him, the drone realized Eli was not one of the Pirates, "INTRUDER ALERT! SWITCHING TO BATTLE MODE!"

Eli realized just how outgunned he was as the drone's arms flipped around to reveal miniature railguns and blades popped out of almost all of its joints. Dropping to one knee he fired one of his rockets straight at the machine's head, scoring a direct hit. The drone lunged forward unaffected and Eli dove to the side, amazed at the speed of his new adversary.

Without missing a beat, the robot turned to point one of the railguns at Eli. Acting quickly, he fired his shock cannon at the drone. The attacks met just outside of the railgun, and the resulting flash nearly blinded Eli. The hunter stumbled unable to see, and he heard the machine lunge again. Praying, he fired his grapple upwards; it caught onto something and pulled him up, but not fast enough.

Eli screamed in pain as one of the blades caught him in the ankle. And the landing went even worse because he fell onto a computer panel. Lying stunned on the ground, Eli's mind was racing for anything that could save him, the sound of the drones mechanical humming getting closer. As sight began to return to him, a spark caught his attention, it was a torn power cable from the panel he just fell on.

Quickly grabbing the cable, he caught the only part of exposed wiring on the drone's neck as it began to lunge for the final blow. The machine twitched as its circuits were being fried. Once it could no longer stand, it fell. Eli heaved a sigh of relief, but felt consciousness slipping away. He heard the door open as the last of his energy left his body.


	3. the past

Eli's head hit the floor as he was thrown into the cell, causing little lights to flicker around his already hazy vision. His body was on fire from the torture and drugs used during his questioning. It seemed that even after 8 days of captivity, the Space Pirates were still convinced that he wasn't who he said he was, he was hiding something. It was impossible that he was Eli Trace, 'Eli' wasn't good enough to take on the ASF-13 Security Drone by himself.

Eli chuckled to himself, the abuse coupled with being called a liar reminded him of his step-father. A dispicible man that, for some reason or another, his mother loved. Theo Trace was the first criminal that Eli ever killed to collect a bounty, that was when he was 15.

Thoughts of his past came flooding into Eli's mind. Even as a child, he'd shown a strong sense of justice. he'd been the 'bully hunter' in his neighborhood, and he'd narc on those he couldn't take down himself. His father died in the line of duty when his SWAT unit found a drug ring and moved in to bust them, he took a plasma bolt to the chest during the brief skirmish. At age ten, Eli's name changed from Ryez to Trace when his mother remarried. at first, Theo seemed to be a... sufferable person, Eli found out soon enough how wrong that impression was.

After five years of abuse, Eli had enough. After school one day, he'd overheard a shifty looking character inquiring after Theo Trace, claiming to be after the price on his head. The teenaged boy knew this was his answer, and grabbed a knife from the kitchen as he dropped his backpack to the floor. he marched straight to the tool shed in the backyard, where Theo would find clever ways to smuggle drugs and other illegal contraband. He called out to the man who'd tormented every moment of his homelife for the past five years, and once Eli looked him in the eye, he put the knife between his ribs. It was quite a sight when the 15 year old boy was dragging the body of his step-father into the town square and up the stairs of the police station, demanding the bounty.

It was once his mother disowned him and threw him out of the house that his favorite memories began, it was when he first began Hunting. Hunting was all he had, and there was always some petty criminal or gangster with a price on their head. after all, his home world of Menah was known for its underworld connections. A motel owner who had been a friend of his father gave him one of the rooms to live in at a quarter of the normal price, since Eli was too young to own or rent anywhere else.

After four months, Eli'd been able to save enough to buy his ship from a junkyard, and thus began living in that. By his seventeenth birthday, he'd fixed his ship and aquired a Bounty Hunting License from the Federation, allowing him to take official jobs posted on the Fed-Net. He took after his work with a passion: bodyguard, SWAT-assists, escorting convoys, and info hunting.

Around his eighteenth birthday, he had his first run-in with Maurader. It was during his first trip out of the Menah System, an escort mission for a medical shipment. the shipment was Asterlin, a chemical compound that was a very potent, nearly cure-all, medicine; however, if properly processed it became the primary ingredient in a dangerously addictive drug. As they passed by a nebula, the radioactive energies interfered with the sensors on his ship. Before he had any warning, swift-attack ships damaged all of the primary systems aside from life-support, leaving him stranded and helplessly drifting for nearly a week.

The confrontation taught Eli that he wasn't invicible. Before he'd finished emptying his bank account to fix his ship, he'd swore a vendetta against the criminal organization known as Maurader. He took any job that would hinder Maurader, within a month, every member of the syndicate knew his name; within a year, he had nearly brought them to their knees.

It was at the point that Eli had reduced them to barely more than a well armed street gang, that he allowed the locals to have the leftovers. He left the system in search of 'bigger fish', this was when he'd first heard of Samus Aran, who had recently defeated some strange organisms know as the X-parasites. Everything he'd hear about her was unreal, but the equally unreal bounties on her head seemed to confirm them. If somebody would manage to bring her in, to the Space Pirates especially, one would be able to live a life of luxury without ever needing to work again.

As Eli began drifting back and forth between conciousness the airlock of the cell block hissed open, and the guard was dispatched by a single missle. Eli groggily turned his head to find the source of the disturbance, and was convinced he was having a drug induced hallucination. the legendary orange armor stood in front of his cell as a hand was brough up to the visor, causing it to change colors. after a moment, the figure nodded affirmitively, "Eli," a woman's voice came through the external speakers of the power suit.

"you can't really be here," he said as he turned away from the cell door, "the drugs are making me see things again."

his cell door slid open and a strong grip lifted him to his feet and pressed a pneumatic injector into the base of his spine.

after a few seconds, Eli felt the fog starting to lift from his mind. He would have pinched himself, but the pain in his body told him he wasnt dreaming. "You're... really here? Are you really Samus?"

"come on," the figure turned towards the door, "let's get you out of here."


	4. the breakout

4

Whatever Samus had injected Eli with was working beautifully. originally he was just following the orange in front of him, but now his senses were returning to him and his eyes darted from shadow to shadow. "Samus?"

The helmet turned slightly to show she was listening.

"It feels like we're going deeper into the base. I thought you were here to get me out."

"you want your suit," she answered, "don't you?"

"ah."

Samus threw out a hand, commanding Eli to stop. She tapped a button on her arm cannon, removing the safeties. Eli backed against the wall, making sure she had room to move if the need was there. the door in front of them slid open and a pair of Space Pirates jumped back in shock as Samus stepped up to dispatch them as they tried to radio for help. Eli felt a burning pain in his ankle when he tried to walk again, he'd rolled his ankle, aggrivating the wound he'd acquired with fighting the security drone and now had to hold himself against the wall as he limped.

Samus made a questioning gesture, and Eli got the feeling that she didn't speak unless she felt a need to. "I'll be fine," he assured her. "once i get in my suit it'll give me the extra support i need."

That was appearently enough to satisfy Samus as she turned back to the door and stepped through it. Eli followed, limping along the wall. when he got to the door and hobbled through it, Samus was looking around, as if searching for something.

"What's wrong?" Eli asked. then he felt it too, they weren't alone. Eli pressed his back against Samus's and they both scanned the room, something else was there, they couldn't see it, they couldn't hear it... but they both felt it.

they slowly moved towards the other door, back to back, scanning the room. the hatch opened once they were close enough and they stepped through it. once it hissed closed, Eli let out a sigh, the other presence was gone. "what was that?"

Samus tapped his shoulder and pointed across the room at his armor, laid out on the table.

"Score." Eli first put on his leg armor to relieve the pressure on his ankle. He saw a data port and moved over, uploading the entire network to his ship via the communications in his helmet.

Samus turned towards the door they'd just used, and charged her arm cannon. "Hurry. whatever was in the other room is coming."

Eli threw on his armor as quickly as he could. the door blew open as he reached for his weapons. "Shit!"

Samus fired and ran back through the door, buying time for Eli to arm himself. He quickly clipped on his shock-cannon and grapple beam to his right arm and ran for the door as he clipped his power blade to his left. He gapped at what he saw, "No... way..."

Ridley had not only been resurrected, but he'd been drastically mutated. his wings had become whip-like tenticles with branch-offs where the bones had once been. His legs were similarly changed, no longer the dragonic claws, now amorphous... blobs. his scaly armor writhed and slithered as if his entire body was made of the whip-like tenticles beneath the skin. Eli frantically began looking around for Samus.

He couldn't find her, "SAMUS! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Ridley turned as he reacted to the sound.

"Eli," the young Hunter sighed, "you retard..."

The dragon-like monster screeched at him, causing much of his skin to separate from its body. Eli saw it only for a second, Samus's arm protruding from between two of the ribs, flailing as she struggled to get free before the tenticles found a way into her power suit.

The skin closed around the body again and Ridley crouched as he tried to get a read on Eli. Eli flicked the blade into combat position and readied his shock-cannon, certain that he would die, but knew he had to free Samus first. "Bring it."

Ridley lunged, trying to catch the boy in his jaws. Eli rolled to the side and jumped when he saw tenticles coming towards him in his peripheral vision. he quickly hacked the snaking black apendages before they could wrap around him. Ridley reared angrily, and Eli shot his grapple when he saw Samus's arm, latching onto her wrist. He jumped into the air andn let the beam zip-line him in.

Eli drove his power blade into the chest of what he'd dubbed NecroRidley. He reached in as wide an arc as he could, trying to avoid hitting Samus as he tried to cut her loose. Tenticles began to wrap around his shoulders and he grabbed Samus's hand, to prevent being wrenched away. He began to yell out as more tentacles began to pull at him, and even started trying to rip him apart. his suit began to flash structural warnings, but he still fought to free his heroine. "SAMUS!" he screamed as he lost his grip on her hand and was pulled towards NecroRidley's fangs.

A grapple beam wrapped around Eli's wrist in time to keep Ridley from snapping down on him. Eli looked down to see Samus struggling against the tentacles trying to hold her back. he fought against those wrapped around himself to aim his shock-cannon and aid her escape.

Samus broke free and fired a missle at the head of the monster. the freezing agents in the explosion caused the tenacles holding Eli to break. He scrambled away as soon as he hit the ground, getting out of reach of the black monster trying to grab him again. Samus moved in between them and began firing.

It was over before Eli turn around again, he saw NecroRidley frozen to the ground. "you were stronger before this," Samus said as she charged her power beam, "STAY dead Ridley."

Eli watched as the shot from her cannon caused the ice to crack, then fall apart. Samus turned to him and helped Eli to his feet, "you did good. He caught me off guard with those tentacles from his mouth, he'd have finally won if you hadn't been here."

"I just went by the logic that you were better than me, and the GF was better off having you than me."

Samus gave an apreciative nod, before leading him towards the door. As it hissed open, Samus fell to her knees, clutching at her stomach.

"Samus!" Eli knelt next to her and saw blood leaking from a hole in the armor she wore. A small wiggling beneath her skin told Eli what was going on, "One of them got inside! you gotta pop your armor so i can get it out!"

"My armor doesn't pop..." Samus said as she passed out into Eli's arms


	5. the surgery

5

"Gotta hurry!" Eli muttered as he ran with Samus over his shoulder. he knew his gunship was somewhere nearby so he randomly began yelling "PAYDAY!" at every big rock he saw. one of them began to flicker as he yelled at it, "thank God."

Eli hit the button to drop his workbench as he entered his ship, he pulled out the medical scanner he'd use when fusing his own broken bones. Eli found the airlock switch on Samus's helmet and flipped it, removing the piece of armor. hair like golden wheat spilled from the back of the helmet, and Samus's sapphire blue eyes fluttered as she tried to fight the effects of the intruder in her body.

"Samus!"

She didn't respond.

Eli slapped her, "SAMUS!"

"Uhn?"

"how do you open your armor?"

"No..." she said woozily, "I don't like you like that..."

"SAMUS!"

She seemed to recover slightly, she whispered, "inside... neck."

Eli snaked his fingers into the collar of the power suit, and began feeling around for anything that seemed like a release. he found a small button beneath Samus's throat and pressed it. all of the seems in Samus's armor hissed as they released their airtight seals.

"She wasn't kidding," Eli said as he began taking apart the pieces of Samus's armor, "her suit doesn't pop." Pop was a generic term used for an emergency releas that disconnected all of the major seams of someone's armor, allowing for emergency treatment. "This tech could cost her her life!"

Samus's hand was shaking when she grabbed Eli's arm, although whether from fear, pain, physical weakness, or something else, he couldn't tell. He finally got her suit off enough that he was confident his scanner could find the tentacle. he started at the wound on Samus's left hip and slowly followed a trail of internal bleeding up to her heart, "oh my God!"

The tenticle was wrapped around her heart, with small cilia that seemed to be injecting something connecting it. "I'm not qualified for this... I don't think anyone in the SYSTEM is..."

"Eli... help... it hurts...so bad..."

He'd never once imagined Samus Aran as one to beg for help, especially from him. He looked at the vitals readout on the scanner, he may not be qualified, but he was her only hope. He reached into the MedKit on the wall and pulled out a syringe and a seditive. he pulled a particularly strong dose from the container and tapped the syringe to make sure there were no air bubbles. First, he injected most of the chemical into Samus's jugular, then he stabbed the needle through her sternum and used the medical scanner to hit the tentacle and inject the rest into it.

Samus feel asleep quickly and Eli began sterilizing some of the tools he normally used for repairing his armor and ship. "God, if you exist... I need a miracle... big time..."

He began by sitting Samus up so he could unzip the form-fitting blue suit she wore. "excuse me," he apologized to her unconcious form as he unveiled her from the waist up. Under normal circumstances, he would be blushing profusely; but then again, if the circumstances were normal, he wouldn't have just undressed an unconcious woman. He used the scanner to find the top and bottom of Samus's heart, marking them with a grease pen. He pulled out a sterile-wrapped scalpel from his MedKit and placed it an inch above the top grease mark. He took a deep breath and prayed once more before pressing it against her sternum.

The new alloy was designed to cut bone as easily as flesh, so it glided through the breastplate easily. Part of Eli felt sorry to mar such beauty as Samus's flawless skin, but he knew it was nessecary, so he shook the feeling. he turned the knife and made a small box area. Setting down the scalpel, he picked up his precision spacer and placed the tip in the incision. slowly he turned the crank, the sound of cracking bones made him feel sick.

Once the separation was large enough, he hooked a pair of hex keys into the hole. Mentally bracing himself, Eli pulled up on the keys. this time, the cracking feeling traveled up the hex keys, coupled with the sound of flesh seperating. Eli had to turn away for a moment to avoid vomiting, he'd never had a strong stomach for this stuff. After settling his stomach with a quick drink of water, Eli felt that he was ready for the difficult part.

Turning back, Eli peered into the hole in Samus's chest. her lungs had been pushed aside by the tentacle which was appearently affected by the seditive, since it was loosely attatched to her heart at this point. Eli Prayed that it didn't have some sort of toxin release as a natural defense as he grabbed the short end with a pair of needle-nose pliers. He released a heavy sigh when there was no reaction from the creature. Lifting ever so gently, Eli pulled the black thing far enough from Samus's heart that he could comfortably fit the blade between the muscle and the foreign object.

Eli's normally steady hand was quivering slightly, "one wrong move and i kill her..." the blade moved effortlessly through the cilia, separating the tentacle from Samus. He lifted the creature which seemed to be recovering from the effects of the seditive. He placed it in an air-tight specimen pod, suspecting that not only might it help the doctors in treating Samus, he could probably demand a higher reward with a specimen in-hand. He used the scanner to make sure he got all of the tentacle and check for others.

Once he was sure she was clean, he quickly closed Samus's chest, very well aware that his ship was far from an aseptic environment. "Computer! Set a course for the nearest class-2 or better medical facility! Emergency Speed! Open a channel to them as soon as we make way!"

"right away, Eli. Good to hear from you again."

"Every nanosecond may count!" Eli began taking of his armor, amazed at how little damage it had taken. "don't waste processing speed with idol chatter!"

The ship lurched as it lifted off. "Eli, you are connected."

"This is Eli Trace, I have Samas Aran on board and in serious condition!" He began explaining the situation, "We engaged a mutated form of Ridley and during the battle, some parasite-like wormy-tentacle thing entered her body. After the battle, it moved upwards from the wound and latched onto her heart, looking on the damage, it ate or dissolved everything in its way. It seemed to be injecting something before i was able to preform an emergency surgery before it killed her. I currently have the creature in a specimen pod, but if it escapes, i will be forced to destroy it. Copy?"

"Did he say he preformed a surgery?" A doctor in the background asked whoever was taking the call. "Let me talk to him! Dr. Hornst here, what's her current condition?"

"She's sedated at the moment..." Eli looked at the scanner, "heartbeat is weak and slow, but constant. Breathing looks ok." He raised it to her head, "woah."

"What?"

"her neurokenetics are beyond my scanner's capabilities to read... what the hell does that mean?"

"No idea, I'd have to look at the data myself. give her a full scan then upload the info."

Eli did as he was told.

"What in God's name..."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't rightly know... all i can say is keep her asleep, we have no idea what all this means."

"I have their entire network in my ships files," Eli said hopefully, "my computer should be decrypting it as we speak, maybe the answer is in there."

"i hope so," Dr Hornst said heavily, "but either way... Keep Samus out cold."


	6. the hospital

The hospital hired Eli as a security measure. It was the best-paying job he'd ever had, dwarfing even the massive payday he'd just recieved from the GF for his previous mission along with the greivences he'd filed for restitution. Even so, he was pissed that he'd accepted a job that could potentially mean pulling the trigger on his heroine.

Samus had recieved a masssive dose of the chemical the Space Pirate called Necris Serum. It was the mutigen powerful enough to reanimate dead tissue and alter its compisition into the life-forms called NecWorms. According to the info the Eli and Dr Hornst's staff had been able to decipher about it, Samus had less than a 5% chance of coming out as a human.

The hospital had hired him to protect the other patients, and the Galactic Federation ammended the deal to state that should Samus change, Eli would recieve the treason bounty on her head if he brought her down. But the whole thing smelled like a conspiracy to Eli. He'd taken the job because he expected the GF to try to enforce the death penalty insinuated by the 'treason' she'd commited by destroying the X-Parasites and SRS-388's environment, both declared invaluable research materials to the Federation; as such, Eli was looking at himself as her bodyguard.

Eli laughed as he looked at the door to Samus' recovery room, "a B guarding and S? that's funny..." His head snapped to the bay-door every time it opened. He hadn't even removed his armor long enough for the hospital staff to check his ankle. Eli had set his helmet to proximtiy mode than moved over next to Samus' room. Eli allowed himself to drift off to sleep once he had set the hospital staff to clear without alerting him.

_beep! beep! beep! beep!_ Eli brought his shock-cannon to bear on a man in a GF standard-issue trooper combat suit. Five men brought their weapons to bear on him.

"Woah cowboy!" the man with sergeant's stripes on his shoulder stepped between Eli and his target. "We're here to support you!"

"Bull-shit!" Eli knew the GF too well to believe that. "GF troopers aren't assigned as back-up to a B. it's the other way around, since the GF thinks their D-level peons can do better than us..."

"That's cold, son"

"I've seen this game before."

"Game, son?"

"Yes. On Menah, the locals would always 'back-up' assasins, then when they take out the target, they kill the assassin and take all the glory saying the target overwhelmed them and they saved the day."

"We aren't-" the sargeant started.

"I didn't request back-up," Eli interrupted, "and you're a green squad anyways."

"How do you know we're green?"

"Did you guys see what my active weapon was?"

"It wasn't your cannon?"

"Nope, grapple beam... you guys failed. Get out."

"You cant tell us to leave!"

"No," Dr Hornst cut in, " but I can. I authorized Eli to be on my floor, and no other armed forces. I am asking you to leave."

"Doctor. I'm sure you are aware that there is a dangerous criminal in that room... correct?"

The sergeant's latest comments were more than enough to confirm the reason for the GF's presence in the facility. Eli flicked his blade into combat position under the pretense of inspecting it, he got the feeling he was about to need it. "we ALL owe our lives to Samus Aran, Sergeant."

"Be that as it may, she disobeyed direct orders."

Eli ran his fingers along the length of his blade, "bounty hunters all have a code they follow. If I were capable of even half of her feats, I'd have blown up the satellite once I realized the danger the parasite posed. Life over science is a principle she and I share."

The sergeant paused, this was a different version of the story than he'd heard.

"Oh yes," Eli adopted a cynical tone, "the GF lies its ass off sometimes. Ever heard their description of Menahrites? ... according to them, we are all ruthless and shameless blood-money dealers, some of the extremist factions of the Federation say that we are a rebellion waiting to happen... did you know that the GF started the war with the Pirates?"

"Why does this all matter, Eli?" Dr Hornst asked.

"Think about it," Eli released the safeties on his shock-cannon, he was now guilty of slander and bordering on public beligerance. "I know the GF's version of the story: Samus' Metroid implants transferred their preditory instincts to her, causing her to desperately thirst for the destruction of all X's. She is supposedly a dangerous animal, and yet, the GF still hired her to rescue me when I got screwed because of their misinformation... Odd, isn't it, that they'd hire their most wanted criminal for a rescue mission of someone they are confident a single squad could defeat?"

"Mr. Trace, I'd suggest that you check your attitude." The sergeant no longer warned, but threatened, "our orders are to make sure she doesn't leave this room out of our custody."

Eli chuckled and lowered his arms, making it obvious to the security cameras that he wasn't outwardly threatening the soldiers. "Capture Samus?"

the man nodded

"you guys couldn't even take me."

One of the privates had heard enough of the young man's arrogant commentary. He stepped forward and swung. Eli knew that the GF Combat-suits amplified human strength to lethal levels, this was the exact attack he was hoping for. he slid his left foot back to avoid the attack, and brought his blade up through the man's neck. "Sergeant, your men just attacked a civilian on a GF-sponsored mission without orders or provocation... If you don't want me to take out the rest of your squad under the pretense of self-defense I suggest you do as both Dr Hornst and I have told you to do."

Even the sergent had his weapon pointed at Eli's head. "Boy, as I said, we have orders. You will move and let us pass or we will remove you."

Eli shrugged, never raising his weapons. He knew that they'd attack first, and that would be on camera, so at least he wouldn't have assaulting military personnel on the list of his crimes.

The Sergeant sighed, "intent to capture. however, lethal force approved."

Dr. Hornst stepped in between them all, "There are far too many innocents! I will not allow this to happen!"

The door of Samus' room opening stopped the battle before it happened. Her blonde hair was now white with black streaks, her skin pale with strange tribal-tatto like marks weaving across it, and her eyes had become red.

"What the hell?" Eli asked

"My God!" Dr Hornst exclaimed

"Men, hold your fire!" The sergeant ordered uncertain if he should have just let them attack or not.

Samus yawned and rubbed her eyes sleepily, "will you please keep it down?" she asked, exhaustion filling her voice. "I'm trying to sleep in here."

"Samus," Dr Hornst asked, "How are you feeling?"

"A little tired, but I'm fine." She told him. Then Samus smiled at Eli, "I know I owe you for that."

"Are you sure you're ok?"

Samus eyed the scene warily. In an instant she knew that the GF-troopers had come for her and Eli was trying to stop them. "I'm fine. Why?"

"Look in the mirror," Eli instructed

Samus raised and eyebrow questioningly before stepping up to inspect her reflection in Eli's helmet. Her face changed expressions each time she blinked: fear, concern, facination, curiosity, Eli picked up on each of these. "What happened?"

"It's likely a side-effect of the Necris Serum," Dr Hornst explained. "It interacted with the dead cells in your body, but instead of the reaction resulting in NecWorms, this happened... Facinating, actually."

"Samus Aran!" The sergeant commanded the attention of the room. "You are accused of teason and evasion of justice! You will come peacibly with us and we will bring you before the Galactic Council! Refusal will be met with violence."

Samus scoffed and looked at Eli, who nodded. She walked back into her room, "you'll let me get dressed, won't you?"

"Of course, under supervision."

"No," Eli rebuked, "there aren't any women in your squad. my code as a man-of-honor wouldn't allow me to give a man the chance to see such a thing. it would be quite rude to Samus."

"Stay out of this Trace!" the Sergeant barked, "your contract is terminated!"

"Fine by me... but do you really wanna release the only thing stopping me from killing you?"

"You wouldn't even-"

Eli smiled beneath his visor as the sound of glass breaking interrupted the sergeant, "would you care to re-hire me to chase her?"


	7. the deal

7 -the deal

Eli had been offered the job to persue Samus, to which he walked away laughing at the sergeant.

The young hunter walked out of the hospital located on the planet Altantia, located in the Regg System. Looking around, Eli got his first good look at the Altantian capital of Cobalt. It was a large, modern city, consisting mostly of bland cube-shaped buildings. "This place sucks," he muttered to himself as he strode slowly towards the docking station where his ship was.

Local police in full-raid gear and the planet's militia were bustling about, trying to usher all citizens out o f the streets. "You in the armor!" one of them ran up to Eli, with his plasma rifle's static-chamber spinning audibly.

"He thinks i'm a threat?" Eli thought as he stopped to speak with the officer.

"Who are you!" he demanded

"I'm just a bounty hunter passing through," Eli activated the status-screen on his wrist to show his Hunting License.

"Where are you going now?"

"Back to my ship. I'm sure you know that criminals don't catch themselves."

"That's the issue," the officer warned him, "there is a Double S-Ranked criminal loose in the city."

Eli chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"Don't worry," Eli continued his journey towards the spaceport, "Samus is harmless."

"_Eli," _His ship's computer conacted him through his helmet, "_There is something trying to sneak into the ship._"

"Something? Not someone?" Eli quickened his pace, taking a guess at the intruder.

"_Physiology suggests it is a human female. However, biological scans come up as an unregistered species._"

"Using the scans of the specimen captured during the last mission, extrapolate as a human-NecWorm hybrid. Does the subject fit within parameters?"

"_perfectly._"

Eli walked through the gates of the spaceport, "let her in. Welcome her as Samus, monitor reaction."

As his ship came into sight, the computer informed him, "_slight suprise. No other reactions._"

Eli walked up the hatch of his ship and hit the lockdown button. All possible escapes from the ship sealed instantly. "Why the hell did you come here, Samus?"

Samus held one of the emergency medkit's scalpel, ready to defend herself. "Where else could I go?"

"exactly, I bet you the Federation has already placed a 'NO FLY' order on this port."

Samus grinned, "but that hasn't stopped you before."

"How do you know that?"

"because after your break-out flight from Hekate Port last year, they tried to hire me to bring you in for breaking the Zoning and the damage to the pad."

"Well, I guess I was too small-time?"

"No, I'll hunt C's if it doesn't take me far out of the way."

"So?"

"I read your file, then declined."

"Ah."

"So when do we leave?" Samus walked up to the nearly twenty year old man.

"We?"

"Yup, until I get a new ship and some armor," Samus winked, "we're partners."

Eli's heart skipped a beat. He'd dreamt of hearing her say that to him, but now it actually happened. Not only that, but Samus was now depending on him. "I..." Even in her unnatural state, Samus still made Eli uncomfortable because of her beauty. "Let's make a deal," Eli removed his helmet to reveal he was blushing slightly, "you kiss me and you can stay."

With a giggle that could only be described as 'cute', Samus said, "still a kid... deal" and sealed the agreement with a kiss.


	8. the escape

8 - The Escape

(A/N: the Plane is the imaginary box that all orbits of a star system's planets fall within. to leave the Plane means losing all known points of reference for a Jump-calculation, that's why Eli acts so wierd about it)

It had become unavoidably obvious that Eli's ship wasn't made for two about ten minutes after Eli made an illegal launch from the Cobalt Space Port. Samus sat in the corner, with her knees against her chest, trying to take up as little space as she could. Eli on the other hand had made space by collapsing his pilot's seat into the storage compartment, he was now pacing the floor. "I can't believe that this has happened..."

Samus watched him without moving her head, she merely tracked him with her red eyes. She was aware of the position that she'd forced Eli into, He was harboring a SS-ranked criminal, made an illegal launch during a GF lockdown, he'd also manipulated a GF Marine into attacking him so he could kill the soldier. The bounty on Eli's head would at least triple after this, and he would be classified as an A-rank criminal. Samus also knew that him turning her in was the only viable way out of the situation, she honestly wouldn't hold it against him if he tried to capture her. However, she wished to avoid killing her new partner.

Eli was freaking out, he hadn't thought about the consiquences of his actions until he was already out of Altania's atmosphere. "I'm so screwed."

With a pair Galactic Federation frigates in the system, Eli knew he couldn't make a Jump, they'd be able to track his direction, and thereby his destination. The current situation forced Eli to hide his ship in the ion and ice ring of a nearby gas giant. It wouldn't hide him for long though, there were three wings of single-man ships combing the ring looking for the two of them. It had been this way for over twelve hours now.

"Eli," Samus finally spoke for the first time since they made their deal, "we need to do something quickly."

"What can we do?" Eli looked over at the source of his problems, "there's at least twelve fighters out there and a frigate on the way to support them!"

"We can run," Samus said flatly, "wait for one of the patrols to pass us, gun it out of the plane, then pick a star and Jump towards it."

"A Pirate Jump?"

"A Pirate Jump."

"You want me to not only NOT use a Jump Marker, but to make a randomly calculated Jump OUTSIDE of the Plane?"

"Like I said, a Pirate Jump. It's the only chance we have at getting away."

Eli leaned his head against the wall and began drumming his fingers against the metal. He didn't like it, but he knew that Samus was right. "Without a Marker or even the Plane Points... how long would it take the Feds to figure out where we went?"

"They can't, there are too many stars too close together for that without a Marker signal or a triangulation algorithm using the Plane Points."

"Computer," Eli asked as if the answer would decide for him, "ETA of next patrol sweep?"

"_three minutes and twenty-six seconds, plus-minus ten seconds_."

"Can we spin-up and still avoid detection?"

"_the ionization is particularly strong in this area, fighter class is Raven, Raven uses KiTech Mk-44 Scanning systems... simulating... simulating..._"

Eli and Samus both knew that this was the important to the plan, with the engine cold, it would take two minutes to have manuvering power.

"_simulation complete... Detection is an absolute certainty in one minute twelve seconds, plus-minus four seconds, however, the Mk-44 would be unlikely to seperate the wavelengths of the reactor from that of the ion ring._"

The two Hunters looked at each other. Eli sighed, "begin spin-up under minimum power, only increase output if I authorize it."

"_roger, commencing_."

Eli watched as the meters slowly began to rise. He scanned the hazy surroundings visually, praying that the patrol would go right past them like they had six times so far. The engines read minimum power for manuvering when Eli spotted the specks of light moving along the ring in the distance. He held his breath without realizing it as they got close enough that he could make out the shadows through the fog that hid them.

Hand hovering over the throttle, Eli watched as the shadows loomed ever closer. "they've detected us by now..." he said to nobody, "...but is the man in charge smart enough to notice it?"

His question was answered when his scanners picked up a spike as the fighters accelrated to engagement speed. "SHIT! COMPUTER FULL POWER NOW!"

Eli threw the throttle and braced himself as the change in momentum caused a shift in the percieved gravity on the ship. He aimed directly between two of the fighters, praying that they wouldn't fire with their comrades in the crossfire. He dropped EMP mines as he left the Ion ring, they detonated and disabled the patrol immediately near them. Eli aimed the ship 'up', trying to get 'above' the Plane before the other two patrols racing after them could catch up.

"_WARNING! MISSLE LOCK!" _The computer's psuedo-voice began chanting.

"How the hell did the frigate get that close already?" Eli asked as he prepped his last two EMP mines as countermeasures.

An alarm blared as the frigate launched two anti-ship missles and they came streaking across the darkness of space.

"Computer! prepare for Jump procedures! Remove all guidence fail-safes!"

"_remove guidence fail-safes? Eli, do you understand that-_"

"YES I DO! NOW DO IT!"

Samus, for the first time in a long time, felt useless as she watched. She knew that Eli didn't need her help or input, but she didn't want to just sit there, despite the fact that was all she could do. She stroked the floor,as if petting a dog, "come on girl..." she thought, "don't fail us."

Launching the mines, Eli set the delay so they'd detonated as the missles passed them. He looked at his panels: his navigation was flashing red because he'd broken the plane, his sensors were flashing red for the missles and yellow now that the other patrols had got close enough to have a weapons-lock. Taking Samus' advice literally, Eli picked a star and aimed the ship towards it. He grasped the lever to activate his Jump-system, "come on girl... Don't fail us."

A moment later, the Regg System was nothing more than than a star in the vastness of space.


	9. the ship

9 - The Ship

(A/N: **SEE ** .org/wiki/Class_M_planet for Class definitions... yes, I'm relitively knowledgible as far as the original and next generation goes)

"_Warning! Engine number two disabled during jump!_" The computer's voice warned as Eli's gunship Jumped-Out, "_unable to generate enough power to escape gravitational pull of planet!"_

"Shit." It was a simple statement, that effectively condensed all of Eli's emotions into a single word. They had Jumped-Out into an unknown system, with an unknown planet pulling them in, and an unknown environment on the Class-Q planet below them. The only benifit in the situation, was that because of its current location in its orbit, the Class-Q planet was quite similar to a very warm Class-M; or at least it would stay that way for the next week or so as it slowly approached the point of it's orbit which brought it close enough to the sun to vaporize all liquid on the planet.

"_Incoming!_" The computer warned as it detected a micrometeor shower heading directly for the ship.

Eli gritted his teeth when he saw no way to avoid the shredding of his ship and punched out the protective glass encasing what he'd jokingly nicknamed the 'Oh Shit Handle', the Emergency Cabin Seal handle. As he grasped the yellow and black striped lever, he looked almost griefstriken as he looked at his insturment panel. "Godspeed, Computer. I pray that you survive."

"_And you as well Eli._"

Eli yanked down on the handle, causing hardened plate-steel to encase the cockpit and surrounding storage and work area. When he turned, he saw Samus standing at attention, saluting the place where Eli's insturment panel was on the other side of the reinforced metal. He grinned morbidly, feeling slightly less foolish about having shown concern for his NavCom's well-being. Eli instantly felt the need to use his hands, so he moved over to the wall where his suit was stored.

Silently watching, Samus once again began to feel useless. She moved across the table from the younger hunter, "need a hand with anything?"

Eli sighed as he pulled out his tools, "no."

Sensing that his 'no' might actually mean 'yes', Samus pressed "Are you sure? I'm pretty handy."

"No," Eli's tone was depressed and cynical as the sound of small high-velocity impacts began plinking against their protective shell, "you 'helped' enough today."

"Hey," Samus' tone was slightly comforting as she placed a pale hand on Eli's shoulder, "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you. Everything you've done for me is really appreciated."

Eli flicked a pair of tinted eye-guards to samus as he pulled a pair over his own eyes. He didn't say anything as he began fusing the holes from his battle with the security robot back when his life seemed much simpler.

"Eli..." Samus withdrew her hand. She'd never spent much time with people, but she'd never been so completely snubbed by somebody who'd already done so much for her. Rejection was a relatively new feeling for her, she'd dealt with it numerous times in a proffessional setting, but never in a personal one.

Eli looked up at Samus, looking at her squarely in the eye.

Neither of them even moved for nearly two whole minutes.

"Look," Eli finally broke the silence, sounding much closer to his normal self then before. He removed his goggles as he spoke

When he didn't complete the thought, Samus nodded sharply to show she was listening. It caused some of her white and black hair to shake loose.

Grappling for words, Eli Trace set his tools down and sat down against the wall. "As much as a lie as my mind thinks it is... I don't regret helping you at all. Ever since I heard of you, I've looked up to you. I've dremt of even just being in the same system at the same time, let alone anything as wild as we've already been through... I'm happy I got mixed up in this, I really am..." Eli couldn't really connect anything else yet.

"And I'm glad to have met you too," Samus suprised Eli by sitting next to him and saying such things. "If I hadn't rescued you, I'd be in the middle of a GF raid on one of the few remaining strongholds of the Space Pirates. I'm pretty sure they would just wait until they were sure they'd have the upperhand before I'd find myself under fire from both sides of the battle...Its also been a long time since I've had someone I could truthfully call my friend."

Eli blushed, although not entirely sure why. "Same for me."

Samus smiled honestly as she looked at Eli.

Eli blushed madly as he returned the smile, realizing that it was his crush on his heroine causing his reactions. He thought to himself, "get real. She's like ten years older than you are."

Samus tucked herself back into a corner, "I'm guessing from what I saw on the insturments that it'll still be over ten hours before the gravity pulls us all the way down to the surface." She wriggled and laid her head against the metal as she curled up into a ball. "I'll be asleep out of your way until we land."

"It'll be a bumpy landing, you want me to wake you as we approach the ground?"

"That'd be nice," Samus closed her red eyes, "Good night."

"g'night," Eli responed as he set back to work on his suit.

After five or so minutes, Samus heavy breathing, almost bordering on a soft snore, filled the space. Eli thought to himself for a second, then moved to a compartment on the wall. Opening it, he pulled out a blanket and a small pillow. He walked over to samus and as gently as he could, he covered her up and manuvered the pillow between the wall and her head. A slight smile crossed the womans face as she slipped further into sleep.


	10. the planet

10 - The Planet

(A/N: the planet is based on Chimera from Jyu Oh Sei. Awesome series, check it out)

Eli woke up with a throbbing in his head. He must've been off-balence at some point during the crash and fallen because he found himself with a newly treated wound on his head. Looking around, Eli saw that Samus was nowhere to be found. He sat up dizzily and saw that his suit's shock-cannon was also missing. Eli slowly put on his suit, getting ready to join Samus in her exploration.

He checked to make sure everything was as it should be before opening his hatch and swinging his blade as a form was right there.

Samus caught his arm, and even with the strength enhancers in his suit, the attack was stopped cold. "Nice reflexes," she commented, apearently unbothered by the attack.

"Sorry," Eli apologized.

"You did what I'd've done," Samus shrugged. "This planet sucks. Everything is trying to eat us, even the plants."

"Carnivourous plants," Eli confirmed exhasperatedly. He'd almost been eaten once before by a flower that tried to snap closed on him during one of his smuggling busts against Maurader. "Great. Anything else?"

"Structures a few miles to the East."

"A settlement or mining camp?"

"Actually," Samus turned Eli's shock-cannon absent-mindedly in her hands, "it looked more like a temple."

"Great," Eli's sarcasm was so obvious that Samus swore she could tell his eyes were rolling behind his helmet. "Let's go pray to plants that prey on us."

Samus nodded and opened the hatch. She turned when she didn't hear Eli's footsteps.

Eli stood, stroking the walls of his ship as if petting a dog. "I can't believe you're done..."

"Eli," Samus interjected, "it's just a ship."

"No," Eli shook his head and removed his helmet. A strange emotion contorted his face, "she's been my home for years. Everywhere I've been, she's has gone too." A single tear rolled down Eli's cheek as he replaced his helmet.

Samus didn't really understand, it seemed like she lost a ship every few missions. She'd never gotten attached to much at all in her life, let alone a vehicle. However, she did understand the feeling of loss. She stayed silent out of respect, despite how silly she thought Eli was being.

Eli's entire body moved with a heavy sigh before he looked over at Samus, "let's go."

As they walked, Samus began pointing out plants she'd identified as dangers already. Eli noted that it seemed to be everything but the trees which had leaves that came in all colors. Almost hesitently, Samus looked over her shoulder.

"What?" Eli looked behind him, not able to read Samus' expression.

"Was that a joke?"

"What's a joke?" Eli was genuinely lost.

"That praying to the preying plants, that was a joke right?"

Eli had to think for a moment to even remember the quip. "Uh, yeah. It was... why?"

"It wasn't very funny," Samus continued hiking and jumped out of the way as a vine lashed out at her.

"I really haven't told any jokes for years," Eli slashed at the vine when it tried after him. "I wouldn't expect my humor to be very funny anymore."

Samus had a sad expression when she looked at him before pointing.

Eli saw what she meant when Samus had said it looked like a temple, however it was more like a temple-city. "Wait, I've seen statues like these... Aren't they Chizi or whatever that race was called?"

"Chozo," Samus sounded almost insulted that he couldn't say it right.

"Are you mad at me for something?" Eli asked, "I can't think of anything I've done wrong."

"I may be human," Samus cast a look out of the corner of her eye, "but the blood in my veins is Chozo."

"I'm sorry if I insulted you... But what do you qualify as now?"

Samus turned up her nose, "are you trying to insult me?"

"No!"

Realizing how much of a bitch she was being, Samus looked at Eli. "Sorry, I'm not much for people. I guess I should have warned you."

"Its fine," Eli waved it off, "just keep your cool. Keep in mind, you are the better of the two of us."

"I wonder..." Samus suddenly trailed off, and wondered into the temple.

"Wait up!" Eli called as she reached the first door.

Once they passed through it, the doors snapped shut and all the lights went out.


End file.
